Page 46 of Rescued

Breanna cleaned up the kitchen, hoping she really hadn’t gotten much flour into Switch’s components. She was contemplating whether to uncover them and put the sheet away, or just leave it for Switch, when she looked out the window to see a bizarre procession.

Approaching the cabin were six of the men she’d seen up the mountain, walking in unison, holding one of Sanchez’s cousins on their shoulders. Cisco. Or rather, his body, because he looked like he was unconscious. Or…

Sanchez walked in front of them, holding some kind of machine gun. Matéo, also armed, walked beside him.

They stopped in front of the cabin and Sanchez called, “Breanna Carter!”

Holy hell. Should she get Switch? She could still hear the shower running. Heart pounding, she went to the door and opened it partway, wishing there was still at least a screen door between her and them.

“Hi?” she said faintly.

Sanchez intoned, “We’re here to avenge the death of Cisco, our brother in arms. You killed him.”

Killed him? That was impossible. “What? Me? I didn’t do anything. How?”

“Poison.”

Holy hell, she couldn’t have killed someone. “No! They were just cookies.”

“Chocolate chip cookies. He ate the whole box.” He paused, then added, “Canines can’t have chocolate.”

That’s right. Chocolate was really bad for dogs. “But—I—” She looked around at their implacable faces. “Switch?” she called. “Switch!” But the shower was still running. He couldn’t hear her.

Just then Dealer walked down the path, munching cookies out of his box.

Breanna panicked. She yelled, “Don’t eat those! Chocolate! It’s poison!”

Dealer stopped, a cookie halfway to his mouth, and turned it over, examining it. Then his gaze raked over the funeral procession, and Breanna, practically fainting in the doorway.

He put the cookie back in the box. Then he reached around to the back of his pants, pulled out gun—and shot the dead guy in the leg. Cisco yelled, opened his eyes, and started swearing. His bearers, startled, dropped him on the ground.

Realization rushed over Breanna. She was such an idiot. Of course he was faking. Switch would have told her if chocolate was poison to werewolves. Or maybe not—she could understand him wanting to kill these guys. She wanted to do it herself. But he’d eaten the cookies too.

Cisco was yelling at Dealer, “You fucking shot me? Seriously?” The other guys were falling over themselves, laughing.

Dealer said, “You scared the cookie babe to death. Now she might not make any more cookies.”

Breanna stormed out onto the front porch, going straight from humiliation to anger. “Not for them, anyway. Bastards.” She turned to Dealer. “I don’t suppose that was a silver bullet?”

Sanchez said, “Those don’t kill us either. Sorry/not sorry.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “I bet they do if I shoot you in the head.” She went back in the house and slammed the door.

She hated practical jokes. She’d always hated them. She even hated those TV shows that showed people getting punked. It was just another form of bullying.

Switch came out of the bathroom, drying his hair and looking hot as fuck. “Did I hear a gunshot?”

Breanna said, “Stupid Sanchez pretended my cookies killed Cisco. You know. Dogs. Chocolate. Poison.”

Switch started to laugh.

“I know, I know, I shouldn’t have fallen for it. You ate them. But he was looking so dead! And they were all staring at me like I was a murderer. With their guns. I didn’t have time to think.”

“So what happened?”

Dealer’s voice came from the doorway. “I shot Cisco. Then he woke up.”

Breanna said, “Is he going to lose the leg? ‘Cause I hope he is.”